Adjjet
Background: Adjjet was born into the Veriaci tribe in the year -141, during the reign of Igjugarjuk and king Leonidas. The time of Leonidas’ reign was a time of peace, but the years of destruction the tabaxi wars had brought were not completely lost to history, and the Veriaci’s warrior traditions had not been lost or faded. As a tribe with a sizable population, their children were raised communally and everyone was considered family. Childhood: To the Veriaci, tradition was very important: Rituals were kept and every member of the tribe was expected to memorize the history of their people. To ensure this, every solstice the children of the tribe would all be gathered, and the tribe elder would recount the history of their people. They children were told that before Igjugarjuk and Leonidas, in their infinite wisdom had united their people as one, the Bobcat tabaxi were entangled in a constant war against their brothers, the mountain lion tabaxi. The Mountain lions were faster and could traverse the mountains better than the Veriaci and over time it became apparent that the mountain lions would win the war if the Veriaci couldn’t adapt a new strategy. Their tribe’s leader at the time, Astacil the mistcaller, took to the fey touched forests of fey valley in search of a new magic that could turn the tides of the war. Inside the fey valley he found a strange magic, similar but not identical to the fey magic that flows through the valley. The children were told that in his travels and through is meditations, he was shown by the forests three secret, underground springs hidden in and around fey valley that grant supernatural gifts to those who soak in their waters. But his visions warned him that anyone who wished to gain the blessings of the mists would need to hone their bodies and minds first, lest the gifts of the mist consume them. Controlling the power of the mist would take immense concentration and rigorous practice. Every time the story reached this phase, the warriors of the tribe would demonstrate their ability to mistwalk. Disappearing and reappearing nearby in a flash of red, green or silvery mist. Adjjet loved that part. The tribe’s elder would continue, and tell the children that the mists allowed the Veriaci the unnatural ability to teleport short distances, and depending on which of the three pools the Veriaci warrior would chose to swim in, the mist offered several other perks. The Veriaci did not win the war against their brothers, the mountain lions. But the mists allowed them to survive until their people could be united by their king Leonidas and the the dragon-god Igjugarjuk. Now the Veriaci, though not at war with their brothers, must never lose the tradition of training their warriors, now known among the other tabaxi as the mistwalkers, to defend their people and all of their brothers from harm. Meeting your heroes: Adjjet had only ever seen his king once as he rode over their village on the back of the dragon-god Igjugarjuk. He heard their king let out a lion’s roar that thundered off the mountain walls and echoed in the hearts of his people. As he soared overhead the shining scales of the dragon, gleaming in the sunlight shot prismatic lights, washing their village in a rainbow of color as he passed overhead. It was a sight Adjjet would never forget. Every child in the village was expected to train with their martial weapons and hone their minds with meditation to try and become eligible to be chosen by the mists. From the time he was old enough to swing a blade Adjjet was trained in the ancient martial arts of his people. He pushed his body and mind to their limits every day to prepare himself. He was raised knowing that one day he too could choose a pool to plunge into and become a mistwalker like his tribesmen before him. None of the mistwalkers were allowed to speak of their trips to the pools to those who hadn’t taken the plunge themselves as a way to keep the locations of the pools hidden from outsiders. But when a tabaxi left to connect to the mist, they would be gone for days, sometimes weeks before they would return. Adjjet was told one thing by his tribe’s leader, Caspar, when it came close to his day to seek out the pools. He was told that there were three known pools he would have the opportunity to choose from. One pool was in the west, hidden under the mountains, filled with dark red water that offered extraordinary combat prowess. One pool to the north was under the forest, filled with luminescent green water that offered incredible Intellect. One pool to the south was in a cave under a lake, filled with silvery water that offered Unparalleled insight. Adjjet had seen most of the mistwalkers in his tribe had chosen the green or red pools as their mist color would align with the pool they had chosen. But he noticed Caspar, the leader of the tribe left a silvery mist when he teleported. Adjjet thought back to seeing Igjugarjuk and his shining silver scales. Their king, Leonidas was able to unite their people through understanding, not with his combat prowess or strategy. All tribes had those things. Adjjet knew one thing, strength and intellect did make good leaders, but insight, the ability to understand people, makes a great leader. The Plunge On his day of choosing, Adjjet was asked which pool he would chose, and he answered that he wished to head south to the silver pool. Caspar smiled and two of the tribe’s mistwalkers guided him south to lake Ailyh. Together the three of them plunged below the surface and swam to a rock formation in the shape of a six foot tall triangle embedded into the side of the lake bed. Adjjet continued inside alone, as no help could be offered during his trials. He swam into the rock formation and then upwards into a dry chamber. When he arrived he unwrapped his two torches and lit one. The pool hidden in the small cave reflected the torchlight like a mirror, and the entire cave was covered in the prismatic lights cast by the pool’s reflection, just like Igjargjuk’s scales had cast light over their village long ago. Adjjet took off his pack and dropped his torch to the ground before he took the dove into the mystical water. The water was cold, colder than the darkest winter winds. He instantly went numb and fell into what felt like a dreamlike state. He was unaware of how much time was passing, where he was or how his body felt and he drifted for what felt like an eternity before he was able to open his eyes again. When he did, he found he was floating inside the pool, but his body was completely gone. He could see, but he wasn't sure by what medium. When he looked around he didn’t turn his head, his vision just shifted. He didn’t see his arms or his legs or his nose in front of his vision. He was aware of his surroundings, but his body was completely gone. He thought to take a deep breath to calm himself, but without lungs there was no avail. He tried to close his eyes, but he could not. He willed himself to move forward, and he did. He willed himself to look back and it happened. He could will himself to any part of the pool, but not outside of it. Without a body his mind could not exist outside the pool. At first he tried to visualize his body and will it back, but he could not make it appear. Then he tried another method. He remembered his long days of training, how every muscle felt when it was pulled or strained. He tried to will those feelings of fatigue and muscle memory to return. All the countless hours he had trained with a blade at the tutelage of his village commander. He remembered what it felt like to swing a punch, to catch a blade, and to leap into the air. What it felt like to breathe, he imagined his heartbeat and every strand of fur that he could feel rustle in the wind. As he did this, he watched as the silvery water began to coalesce around his mind. First in a blob, then it began to take shape. His shape. The silvery mist in the water coalesced around him and took his shape, but it didn’t solidify just yet. He needed something more, an action to solidify his body together. He remembered the one time he had seen Leonidas. He remembered his roar, and with all his might, he tried to imitate that roar. Bubbles shot from where his mouth should be, and starting with his head and moving down, the silvery mist compacted together in an instant to reform his body. He willed himself to leave the pool and he felt his body disassemble again and his consciousness warp outside the pool, and in an instant, his body reformed around his mind like it had in the pool. Outside the pool was nothing but darkness, his torch had long gone out. He reached out and grabbed the second torch he had been instructed to bring and lit it to navigate his way out of the cave. He re-entered lake Ailyh and swam to the surface to return to his village. He was now a warrior and mistwalker of his people and he performed his duties to defend his tribe from orcs or whatever enemies would attempt to enter the tabaxi lands from the southwest. Never meet your Heroes: But one year, the tabaxi began to become sick, and despite their best efforts the Bobcats were falling like flies during the plague, presumably brought by the settlers from far off continents. Adjjet himself became afflicted by the plague, but he endured it. Himself and the leader Caspar were the only two in their tribe to contract the sickness and survive. On the brink of destruction and starvation, Caspar assembled the mistwalkers together and told them grave news. The dragon-god Igjugarjuk had turned on the tabaxi. The mountain lion tabaxi just north of them had managed to get a message to them before they were completely destroyed. The dragon-god had unleashed its wrath upon them and was on its way to their village. Adjjet was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe that their god had abandoned them and wished to exterminate them like this. Caspar revealed that the mountain lion tabaxi tried to flee, but they were too slow in their sickened state to escape a dragon. The sick and hungry mistwalkers were left to make an impossible decision. They decided to defend their people, they would fight the dragon in the face of absolute defeat. They rose into the treetops around their village and waited. It only took a few minutes for the dragon to arrive. His scales no longer shimmered, and the roar they heard was not of their king, It was the deafening roar of a dragon’s wrath. On its first pass the dragon breathed ice across their village freezing the villagers as they cowered for cover. Adjjet threw a dagger that pathetically bounced off the dragon's hide. The dragon turned around for a second pass. Adjjet could hear the screams of his tribesmen below him as half of them had been turned to frost. On its second pass Adjjet tried to mistwalk onto its shoulder, but he wasn’t able to get high enough and dragon’s arm smashed against him with the force of a mountain as it flew past him, sending him falling back into the trees. It hadn’t even hit him on purpose, it likely didn't even realize it had knocked him out of the sky like a fly. It was just that strong. More of the village was decimated in the second pass. It was now or never. The dragon circled for a third pass and Adjjet leapt from the trees and mistwalked into its back. He grabbed onto its scales and pulled himself to his feet. He saw, not their king, but a female snow leopard tabaxi was riding the dragon. He ran along its back to attack the rider, but as he drew closer, the rider looked back. She was a female snow leopard tabaxi clutching what looked like a dead child in her arms. But her face was sunken and patches of her fur were missing. Her empty eye sockets glowed with a dim blue light and Adjjet froze in horror at the sight of her unnatural presence. The rider snarled what was left of her lips and hissed at him, a dead and empty hiss that sent a chill down his spine and deep into his core. Adjjet was so fixated on the horrible face of the rider he never noticed the dragon’s long neck turning back to look at him. He was snapped out of his frozen state when he heard the dragon’s guttural roar. He looked up to see the gaping maw of the god-dragon Igjugarjuk let lose a torrent of ice and frost that instantly overwhelmed him. In less than a second he felt his blood freezing inside his body, his eyes turned solid and his heart solidified inside his chest. And then…. Nothing. ''' '''Rebirth Adjjet woke to the sound of birds chirping in the trees above him, and the warmth of the sun on his fur. He was lying in the woods. He felt as though he had been asleep for eternity. The last thing he could remember, he had been fighting the dragon, but he felt calm and safe when he woke. It wasn’t long after Adjjet woke that his tribe realized their village structures were all gone. They sought out the Mountain Lions and the Panthers, who were their closest neighbors. Their leaders headed to Pride’s peak to ascertain what had happened. Adjjet stayed behind and kept tabs on the human settlement that had sprung up overnight just south of their village. Their leaders returned and told them that they had been dead for almost three centuries. Igjaryuk had brought them back after being freed by Leonidas’ heir, a Lynx tabaxi named Nyanta who lived with the humans. New Friends The tabaxi didn’t trust the humans and stayed away from them for the next few months as they tried to rebuild, unsure if the plague would return. But food was scarce as their stores and farms had long ago withered. The Veriaci were on the verge of starvation when a half elf in a blue coat arrived with the King’s heir, Nyanta. Adjjet stood around the campfire as Caspar met with these two. Adjjet recognized the blue coated man, who introduced himself as Dolan, as the leader of the settlement south of them. If the king’s heir, Nyanta trusted this man and called him friend, that was good enough for Adjjet. Caspar began to trade with the Humans, Food for labor, as the humans needed strong laborers and the tabaxi needed food. But Adjjet was a warrior of the mistwalkers, and his skills were better used in other ways. To strengthen relationships Adjjet approached Dolan and offered his services as a warrior in exchange for food for his people and Dolan gladly agreed. Shadows Over Flouna During the Shadows over Flouna arc, Adjjet was hired, along with 3 other NewTown defenders, by Cassandra to defend Alfenheim during the Githyanki invasion. During the Battle of Alfenheim he, Galia, Kelle and Adexia were stranded in the Astral plane when the githyanki ship retreated in its final moments with them still aboard. With no way home they commandeered the small ship and attempted to run from the larger mother ship. Adjjet steered the vessel with his hind in an attempt to outrun the mother ship. He was unsuccessful in escaping, but the group managed to kill the pet Pyroclastic dragon of the Githyanki Commander before being hurdled into the astral plane without transport. Eventually, after finding an abandoned tower, floating in the astral sea, Adjjet found the shortwqord of the previous owenr, likely a giant of Djiin of some kind, he gained the sword of Vengence Abjanar, and a shield of the sentinel he and his companions found a portal to Ysgarde. The Sword, Abjanar told Adjjet it sought vengeance against the one who had wronged it and caused its death. It sought to kill someone named UItonu, but could not remember more than that. To get back home, Adjjet and his group, after finding a portal to Ysgarde teamed up with an orc and his half orc friend, Grugs and, Lander they took down the primal giant, Hjorfsgaldur. Adjjet did not actually take part in the battle as he was busy guarding the exit in case things went south. Adjjet also took part in the battle of Astazia and helped defend the Wahda guild from the Ghoul army during the battle with the Atropal, Shkiga. Relationships: Dolan: Adjjet trusts Dolan and respects him as a fighter. As a person though he sees more fear in Dolan, than the average man. Dolan is more guarded and cautious than his station demands. He feigns trust to everyone, but truly grants it to no one. Anyone who slights him, he assumes intends his demise, which leads him to become paranoid and make mistakes. Still though, he is a friend of the king’s chosen and he has proven himself to be an intelligent leader time and time again. Dolan tries his best and he is a good leader and strategist, but he is missing the insight needed to be a great leader. Galia: Galia is a warrior through and through. She is the only Defender besides Dolan who can best Adjjet in combat. Her body is strong but her mind is sundered by her past, and it leaves her under confident in herself. She fears being alone more than anything, and to try to prove her strength she does her best to push others away. Still, after Adjjet and Galia barely survived a skirmish with a marauding group of orcs while on patrol together, they opened up to each other about their pasts. Adjjet feels she has the most potential of any of the defenders and he tries to draw out the good in her by being her friend. But even he knows to avoid her when she gets angry. Whirl: He sees whirl as his wild little sister. She likes to have fun and says what she thinks without hesitation, even if she sometimes shouldn't. She does know that her jests have a time and place though. He finds Whirl to be very amusing though in this regard as most tabaxi in his tribe are fairly reserved. The two of them like to drink late into the night and he laughs at her crazy antics. Yugo: Adjjet likes Yugo. They have precious little in common, but they share a love for their people. Yugo for his family and New Town, and Adjjet for his tribe. In this way Adjjet sees himself in Yugo and despite them having few interests in common. Adjjet feels he can trust Yugo on principle. Any man dedicated to his people enough to fight for them is a comrade to Adjjet. Horus: Horus is a man ever gripped by his work. He acts as though a shadow hovers over him, eclipsing his talents at every turn. He wants others to praise his work, but never accepts their praise upon receiving it. It's clear the praise of NewTown isn't the praise he seeks, so he ignores those around him and the potential friendships they could offer. Zenmaer: Adjjet doesn’t mind Zenmaer. Zenmaer, unlike the other defenders, isn’t there because he volunteered, rather because he was assigned. As a result he always acts like the odd one out. For most of the defenders this is their life, but for Zenmaer this is just another job that he wants his paycheck for and to go home afterward. Nothing wrong with his approach, after all impartiality is part of his job. But he has seen Zenmaer smile now and then, and Adjjet thinks anyone who can smile deserves to be made to smile. Jai-Nao: Adjjet doesn’t like her. He will be polite to her face and follow her orders, but he doesn’t see her as a leader. She’s a schemer, and she carries an aura of sinister mischief about her. He expects her to try to pull something before her time here is up, but just doesn’t know what she may intend. Nyanta: Adjjet has not seen Nyanta in person more than a few times but he is fascinated by him. What makes this tabaxi so special as the become the king’s heir? He is determined to find the answer. Abilities: Adjjet’s greatest advantage is his mistwalking ability. He never provokes attacks of opportunity when he mistwalks, allowing him to quickly move anywhere on the battlefield in an instant, hitting an enemy and disappearing before they can retaliate. Adjjet likes to play keep away with his enemies. Notes: Category:Characters Category:NPC Category:New Town NPCs